Japan plans carbon emission cuts, more nuclear energy

Land of the rising sun nation Japan is calling for further efforts to cut carbon emissions by promoting renewables but also nuclear energy despite the 2011 Fukushima reactors meltdowns.The energy white paper, adopted by the Cabinet Friday, says Japan faces an “urgent task” of reducing carbon emissions coming from utilities that have relied heavily on fossil fuels to make up for shortages of cleaner nuclear energy. The call comes as the Fukushima nuclear reactors are slowly being restarted amid lingering anti-nuclear sentiments since the 2011 crisis.Japan wants further development of renewable energy and has set a 22% to 24% target while maintaining nuclear energy at around the same level. It also pledges to reduce carbon emissions by 26% from 2013 levels by 2030. So far it has so far achieved a 7% reduction.While the renewables account for 16% of Japan’s energy supply, nuclear energy remained at just 3% in 2017, compared to the target of 20% to 22%, according to the paper. Coal and natural gas accounted for 74%.Before the 2011 quake and tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s cooling systems and sent three of its reactors into meltdowns, nuclear energy made up about one-third of Japan’s energy supply.Despite the government’s nuclear energy ambitions, reactor restarts are coming slowly as nuclear regulators spend more time on inspections under stricter post-Fukushima standards, while utility companies have opted to scrap aged reactors instead of investing in additional safety measures.The slow reactor resumptions have added to Japan’s large plutonium stockpile problem that has become an issue of international concern. Japan, which is stuck with 47 tons of plutonium stockpile from spent fuel, has resorted to burning it in conventional reactors to reduce the amount after the country’s fuel recycling program has stalled.But the amount is not decreasing, and experts are now calling for more drastic steps to get rid of it amid criticism that Japan’s plutonium makes Tokyo’s calls for nuclear non-proliferation less credible. About 37 tons of spent fuel is kept in France and Britain where it has been reprocessed since Japan lacks the capability to do it at home.

D-Day 75th anniversary commemorations

World leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have joined the Queen in Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.The countries represented at the event have agreed to make a joint statement pledging to ensure the "unimaginable horror" of World War Two is not repeated.Theresa May is hosting 15 world leaders to honour the largest combined land, air and naval operation in history.Figures from every country that fought alongside the UK are attending.Coming to the end of a three-day state visit to the UK, Mr Trump said he was looking forward to marking what "may have been the greatest battle ever".

D-Day: The military term for the first day of the Normandy landings was the largest amphibious invasion ever undertaken and laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Germany in World War II.It paved the way for Allied success on the Western Front in World War II, turning the tide of the war against the beleaguered Axis powers.The invasion took place on June 6, 1944, and saw of tens of thousands of troops from the United States, the UK, France, Australia and Canada landing on five stretches of the Normandy coastline codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

trilateral meet US may sugest recognizing assad as Syrian president

The rare tripartite meeting is expected to deal mostly with Syria, specifically Iran’s efforts to entrench itself militarily near Israel’s borders, and the planned withdrawal of US troops from the war-torn country. Arabic newspaper quotes Western diplomats on proposal regarding Syrian leader at upcoming meeting in Jerusalem of US, Israeli, Russian national security advisers. The White House announced last week that the meeting between Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev as well as the US and Israeli national security advisers, John Bolton and Meir Ben-Shabbat, would be held in Jerusalem in June.The offer would be made in the framework of a road map for the peaceful settlement in Syria that Washington and its allies were going to propose at the meeting. Israel and the US will offer incentives to Russia later this month in a bid to curb Iran’s influence in Syria, which could include legitimizing the continued leadership of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, a London-based Arabic newspaper reported Sunday.The incentives will be raised at an unprecedented trilateral meeting of national security advisers scheduled for later this month in Jerusalem, according to a report in Asharq al-Awsat that quoted Western diplomats and was cited by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster. The report did not clarify what the other proposals could be.US National Security Adviser John Bolton, Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and Russian Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will meet in Jerusalem later this month, according to an announcement made by the White House on Wednesday, just minutes before the Knesset voted to disband and to set new elections for September 17.

China says trade war 'has not made America great again'

Washington's escalating trade war with Beijing has not "made America great again" and has instead damaged the American economy, China said Sunday (Jun 2), stressing that while it wants resolution through talks there will be no compromise on core principles.Beijing's broadside is the latest act in a bruising conflict between the world's top two economies that has spooked markets and sparked fears about the global economy. China said, stressing that while it wants resolution through talks it will not compromise on core principles.The Chinese white paper came just days after Beijing imposed retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Beijing on Friday said it would create a blacklist of "unreliable" foreign firms and individuals, marking a new escalation in the increasingly acrimonious trade dispute between the US and China.The move is seen as a response to the US government's recent decision to blacklist Chinese technology giant Huawei, denying it access to domestic markets and restricting US sales to the company, though a 90-day reprieve was issued.